Health and social problems of street children

Abstract: As there is no documented information on street children in Ethiopia, a cross sectional survey was conducted in Nazareth town, South Eastern Ethiopia, in December 1994. The purpose of the survey was to describe the health and social problems of the street children. By means of a systematic sampling method, based on a census registration, 597 subjects, 526(88.1%) males and 71(11.9%) females, were recruited for the study. Four hundred and one (67.2%) of the children reported eating at least twice daily. One hundred and six (14.6%) of the children reported the use of habit forming substances. Three hundred and sixty eight (61.6%) of the children reported an illness during the survey. The major health complaints were abdominal pain, cough and headache. Substance use, arrest by police, current sexual activity and STDs were reported more frequently among the "off" the street children. Improving access to existing social services and exploration of possibilities to rejoin the street children with their families are recommended.[Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1998;12(1):51-55